Can carrier



W. M. TOLAAS Oct. 4, 1966 CAN CARRIER Filed June 2, 1964 INVENTORW/L4/AM M. Tam/2s BY 0 7 United States Patent 3,276,621 CAN CARRIERWilliam M. Tolaas, St. Paul, Minn., assignor to Waldorf Paper ProductsCompany, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed June 2, 1964,Ser. No. 371,895 6 Claims. (Cl. 220-105) Thisinvention relates to animprovement in can carrier and deals particularly with a carrier havinga retractable handle to simplify the carrying of the cans.

During recent years a great number of different types of paperboard cancarriers have been produced. Many of these carriers are designed to holdsix cans of a product, such as beer, the cans being arranged in two sideby side rows. In some instances, these carriers have been provided withhandles, usually extending upwardly from the center of the top panel andfoldable into the plane of the top panel or against the top panel duringshipment and storage. However, in the interest of economy, othercarriers are produced which are merely provided with finger openingsregistrable with spaces between the cans so that the fingers may beinserted for lifting the carriers from the packing case in which theyare shipped.

The machinery employed to package the cans is extremely expensiveequipment, and normally travels at high speeds. Once this machinery isproduced to close a carrier of a certain type, considerable expense isinvolved in adapting the machinery to handle a different carton. Forexample, if the apparatus is designed to enclose cans in a carton whichdoes not include a carrying handle, it cannot be conveniently adjustedfrom time to time to accommodate carton blanks provided with carryinghandles. In other words, substantial revision must be made to change themechanism from forming one carton blank to another.

Many breweries produce various grades of beer, some of which sells for arelatively high price, and some of which sells for much lower price.Usually the lower priced beers are packaged under a different label. Inorder that all of the cans of beer produced by the brewery may bepackaged on the same machine, the type of blanks used must remainsubstantially the same. Thus, while it might be desirable to provide acarrying handle on the packages used for more expensive beer, this isnot usually considered practical. If an economical blank must be usedfor the less expensive product, the same form of blank must be used onthe more expensive grades of the product. i

It is an object of the present invention to provide a beer can carrierwhich may in general be of the type illustrated in the patent to RaymondA. Cote, No. 2,963,148, issued Dec. 6, 1960, and in adding a separatehandle to such a carrier. This type of carrier comprises an elongatedstrip of paperboard which is transversely creased to provide a centralpanel designed to extend across one end of the cans of two side by siderows, side walls hingedly connected to the central panel, and two halftop panels hingedly connected to the side wall panels, each of which isdesigned to extend over the cans of a single row. Flanges are hingedlyconnected to these half panels which extend between the cans of the tworows in a direction toward the central panel, these flanges beingsecured in face contact. Usually, additional reversely turned flangesare provided on the edges of the attached panels, these latter flangesbeing designed to engage against the chimes of the cans. With such anarrangement, a generally U-shaped separate handle having parallel sidesterminating in hooked-shaped ends may be inserted between the attachedflanges to extend into open areas between the cans. The central handlebar portion of this handle may normally rest along the juncture betweenthe two half panels where is does not interfere with the stacking of thecartons. However, by grasping the handle bar and pulling it upwardly,the hooked-shaped ends of the handle will engage the flange structure tolimit upward movement of the handle bar relative to the half panel. As aresult, a convenient carrying handle may be provided on a conventionalcarton of the type now being used in great volume.

A feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the handlesmay be applied to the carton during the gluing process or may bemechanically inserted in the seam between the attached flanges after thecartons are complete. Spaced unglued areas may be provided between theflanges if desired or the handles may be inserted :at a time when theadhesive is not completely set to simplify the inserting operation. Inactual practice, handles have been successfully inserted between theflanges after the gluing operation is complete, as the flanges have atendency to adhere less securely in the open spaces between the cans.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invent-ionwill be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specificationand claims.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a can carrier,showing the handles in place therein.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a form of handle which may be used.

FIGURE 3 is a partial end view of the cart-on showing the manner inwhich the hook ends of the handle engage the flange structure.

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section viewing the upper .portion of thecarrier, the position of the section being indicated by the line 4-4 ofFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the carrier, the viewbeing directed upwardly toward the top of the carrier.

In view of the fact that the bottom of the carrier is unimportant in thepresent invention, it is not shown in detail. The carrier A may besimilar to that shown in the Cote patent previously referred to. Usuallythe carrier includes a bottom panel 9 which forms the center of theblank, and which is connected along parallel fold lines to side walls 10hingedly connected along their upper edges 11 to half panels 12, thesehalf panels being of a width substantially equal to the diameter of thecans of one row. In the particular carrier illustrated, the cans B arearranged in two side by side rows of three cans each.

The half panels 12 are hingedly connected at 13 to flanges 14 whichextend downwardly between the rows of cans B. The lower edges 15 of theflanges 14 are hingedly connected to anchoring flanges 16 which arepreferably shorter than the flanges 14 and which are designed to engagethe chimes 17 of the cans B. The flanges 14 are adhered in face contactin the manner best illustrated in FIG- URE 3 of the drawings.

The handle C is formed as is best illustrated in FIG- URE 2 of thedrawings. The handle C includes a handle bar 19 which is connected atits ends 20 to parallel handle shanks 21. The handle bar 19 and shanks21 provide a generally U-shaped handle structure. Reversely turned hookends 22 are provided at the lower ends of the handle shanks 21. Theparallel shanks 21 and the handle bar 19 lie in a common plane. However,the hook ends 22 are bent somewhat out of the plane, preferably intoparallel relation with one hook end extending to one side of the planeand the other hook end extending to the other side. Accordingly, whenthe handle C is inserted down between the flanges 14, until the upperends 23 of the hook ends 22 are below the level of the folded edges 15of these flanges, the hook ends will engage opposite flanges when thehandle is drawn upwardly. Thus the weight of the carton contents issupported by the engagement between the hook ends 22 and the foldedflanges 14, 16.

When not in use, the handle C rests upon the top of the carton at thejuncture between the top half panels 12 and the flanges 14. FIGURE 1 ofthe drawings shows the handle in this position in dotted outline. Whenit is desired to lift the carton from the packing case or to carry thecarton, the handle is raised and the fingers inserted beneath the handlebar 19, permitting the carrier to be readily carried.

While it is possible to insert the handle at the time the carriers areglued, they may also be inserted automatically after the cartons areclosed by forcing the ends of the handle between the flanges 14 as theyleave the packaging machine. In order to facilitate this operation, theflanges 14 may either be provided with unglued areas, or else thehandles may be inserted while the adhesive is still moist. The use ofthis handle permits all of the packages to be generally uniform whilestill permitting the use of a handle on the packages wherever desired.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principlesof construction and operation of my can carrier, and while I haveendeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have itunderstood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of thefollowing claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

'1. A can carrier for containing a group of cans arranged in two side byside rows, the carrier including,

an elongate-d sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallelfold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a said group ofcans, side wall panels adapted to extending along opposite sides of thesaid group of cans, half top panels each adapted to overlie the upperends of a row of said cans, and flanges hinged to the edges of said toppanels and adapted to extend between the said two rows of cans in sideby side rows, said flanges secure-d in face contact,

a U-shaped handle including substantially parallel shanks extendingbetween .said flanges, and angularly extending ends on said shanks,

said shanks being sufficiently long to be normally substantially belowthe lower edges of said flanges when the center of the handle rest-supon the top panels, and said shanks having said angularly extendingends und-erlyingly engageable with said flanges when said center portionof said handle is raised. 2. A can carrier for containing a group ofcans arranged in two side by side rows, the carrier including,

an elongated sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallelfold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a said group ofcans, side Wall panels adapted to extending along opposite sides of thesaid group of cans, half top panels each adapted to overlie the upperends of a row of said cans, and flanges hinged to the edges of said toppanels and adapted to extend between the said two rows of cans in sideby side rows, said flanges secured in face contact,

a U-shaped handle including a central handle bar and generally parallelhandle shanks on the ends thereof extending between said flanges,

said shanks being of 'a length substantially greater than the width ofsaid flanges and having offset lower ends underlyingly engageable withone of said flanges when said handle is lifted upwardly.

3. The structure of claim 2 and in which said offset lower ends arehook-shaped.

4. The structure of claim 2 and in which said flanges are hingedlyconnected at their lower ends to outwardly and upwardly turned flanges,and said offset means engages the folded edges of one of said flanges.

5. A can carrier for containing a group of cans arranged in two side byside rows, the carrier including,

an elongated sheet of paperboard transversely creased along parallelfold lines to provide a bottom panel adapted to underlie a group ofcans, side wall panels adapted to extend along opposite sides of thesaid group of cans arranged in side by side rows, half top panels eachadapted to overlie the upper ends of one said row of cans, and flangeshinged to the edges of said top panels and adapted to extend between thetwo said rows of cans and secure-d in face contact,

outwardly and upwardly turned flanges hingedly connected to the loweredges of said first named flanges,

a U-shaped handle including a central handle bar and generally parallelhandle shanks connected to the ends thereof and extending between saidfirst named flanges,

said shanks being longer than the width of said flanges and includingupwardly turned hook ends on the lower ends thereof,

each said hook end being engageable with the folded edge between onesaid first named flange and the flange hinged thereto.

6. The structure of claim '5 and in which one said hook end isengageable with the fold between one pair of flanges and the other isengageable with the fold line between the other pair of flanges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,605 10/1952 Wahlbom 220-104 2,678,751 5/1954 Ringler .220104 3,010,573 11/1961Chidsey 2 20- 1 12 X 3,120,903 2/ 1964 Cote 220-112 GEORGE O. RALSTON,Primary Examiner.

1. A CAN CARRIER FOR CONTAINING A GROUP OF CANS ARRANGED IN TWO SIDE BYSIDE ROWS, THE CARRIER INCLUDING, AN ELONGATED SHEET OF PAPERBOARDTRANSVERSELY CREASED ALONG PARALLEL FOLD LINES TO PROVIDE A BOTTOM PANELADAPTED TO UNDERLIE A SAID GROUP OF CANS, SIDE WALL PANELS ADAPTED TOEXTENDING ALONG OPPOSITS SIDES OF THE SAID GROUP OF CANS, HALF TOPPANELS EACH ADAPTED TO OVERLIE THE UPPER ENDS OF A ROW OF SAID CANS, ANDFLANGES HINGED TO THE EDGES OF SAID TOP PANELS AND ADAPTED TO EXTENDBETWEEN THE SAID TWO ROWS OF CANS IN SIDE BY SIDE ROWS, SAID FLANGESSECURED IN FACE CONTACT, A U-SHAPED HANDLE INCLUDING SUBSTANTIALLYPARALLEL SHANKS EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FLANGES, AND ANGULARLY EXTENDINGENDS ON SAID SHANKS, SAID SHANKS BEING SUFFICIENTLY LONG TO BE NORMALLYSUBSTANTIALLY BELOW THE LOWER EDGES OF SAID FLANGES WHEN THE CENTER OFTHE HANDLE RESTS UPON THE TOP PANELS, AND SAID SHANKS HAVING SAIDANGULARLY EXTENDING ENDS UNDERLYING ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID FLANGES WHENSAID CENTER PORTION OF SAID HANDLE IS RAISED.